“IS ‘AUSCHWITZ ONLY SLEEPING’?” – INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ROMA AND SINTI NARRATIVES 75 YEARS AFTER THE ROMA HOLOCAUST
Anna Mirga-Kruszelnicka and Mohammed Morgan Belal, ERIAC
Inspired by this quote, the organizers – the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma, and the ternYpe International Roma Youth Network – came together for the 75th anniversary of 2nd of August 1944 in organizing an international conference to reflect on the importance of cultivating the memory of the Roma Holocaust for the safety and well-being of Roma communities today.
The conference took place at the Auditorium Maximum of Jagiellonian University in Krakόw, from 31st of July – 1st of August 2019. It was linked to the “Dikh he na Bister” Youth Event, which brought together over 500 young people from across Europe, as well as the official commemoration of the 2 August European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day, held every year in Krakow and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The conference brought together major stakeholders, artists, advocates, and academics to discuss the representation of Roma memory in arts, scholarship, political activism, and the Roma historical narratives and spaces of memory, as well as the civil rights struggle for recognition and against antigypsyism. The aim of the conference was to take stock of achievements and challenges in the various issues related to the memory of the Roma Holocaust, commemoration practices, and scholarship, while at the same time galvanizing greater collaboration across various stakeholders and fields of action.
The international conference’s main issues were given the appropriate space to discuss during separate panels. Each panel brought together outstanding Roma and non-Roma speakers from across the world, among them Holocaust survivors, academics, young scholars, Roma activists, artists, and politicians, including the representation of international institutions such as the European Commission and the Council of Europe.
“I’m afraid that Europe is forgetting its past and that Auschwitz is only sleeping. Antigypsyist threats, policies, and actions worry me greatly and make me very sad” said Ceija Stojka, Roma artist and Holocaust survivor.
All pictures in this article: Jarosław Praszkiewicz